An optimized personal name search system typically requires that search algorithms be sensitive to the cultural provenance of personal names (also referred to herein generally as “names”). For example, knowing that a name is Hispanic is important for understanding that “Juan Carlos Morales” is a better match for “Juan Carlos Morales Cabrera” than for “Juan Carlos Cabrera Morales”. Also, knowing that “Alexander Sergeyev” is a likely Russian name would allow a search algorithm to match the name to “Sasha Sergeyev”, since Sasha is a common nickname for Alexander in Russian-speaking countries. Maximizing the accuracy of a name search system that culturally classifies names, therefore, has a positive impact on the ability of the name search system to return relevant matches. There are also other situations in which cultural identification of a name is important for achieving a desired outcome, such as minimizing advertising costs by targeting language-specific collateral (or items) to likely speakers of those languages.